Organic fertilizing fuzz?

[Rodrigo]

I recently switched to organic fertilizer from liquid Miracle-Gro. I'm trying out Dr. Earth Life organic pellets as per Jona's Bonsai Tonight Blog and so far so good. The last few days though have been cloudy so I have not needed to water my trees, so the fertilizer on the surface dried out a bit and it started growing white fuzz.

Is that the fertilizer breaking down as it should or is it not normal?

 

[MrWunderful]

Looks normal to me

 

[Shibui]

That is some sort of fungus growing on the fertiliser. That's quite normal and an important part of making the orgainc fert components available to the plants.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Sure, they're just like little turds. They're being consumed by fungi and microbes thence converted to plant food, ad infinitum. Ashes to ashes, turds to turds.

 

[rockm]

You actually WANT that kind of thing. Mold and bacteria break down organic ferts into useable form for trees. With "chemical" ferts those elements are immediately available. That's why "chemical" ferts are so useful...

 

[Rodrigo]

Thank you all! That makes sense

I'm already seeing a great improvement from last year's growth for anyone looking for an easy organic fertilizer to use. I'm doing an application every 30 days with a dose of miracle gro every 10 days.

 

[Lars Grimm]

Normal, but if you don't like to look at it you can use the fertilizer cages. It keeps all the detritus contained and makes clean up easier. I use it for all my trees in pots, but don't bother for trees in Anderson flats or grow boxes.

 

[Michael P]

The Milorganite I put on my trees last week is doing the same thing, completely normal.

 

[Grovic]

Ashes to ashes, turds to turds.

 

[Grovic]

Sure, they're just like little turds. They're being consumed by fungi and microbes thence converted to plant food, ad infinitum

Last year I got a fungus gnats infestation, I have the suspicion that the eggs came in the bio gold pellets since they only appeared once I started using it.

 

[Cascading-Echinocactus]

Be on the look out for fungus gnats. Due to the large inorganic fraction of container bonsai soil and rapid heating/cooling of the container throughout the day and other variables such as too wet/too dry periods and the amount of chlorine or chloramine in your tapwater etc., beneficial bacteria and fungi are present in boom/bust cycles. With this in mind you might consider using a liquid fertilizer in conjunction with Dr. Earth, if you're not already, to supplement the micro nutruients youre not getting as well as a supplemental source for calcium and magnesium such as horticultural lime or gypsum&Epsom salt. Best of luck!